Impingement Syndrome / Sub-Acromial Bursitis

This is a very common issue, in fact, Impingement Syndrome is probably the commonest cause of shoulder pain. But don’t worry… if you’re suffering from shoulder pain, it’s one of our favourite things to treat! But, what does ‘Impingement’ mean? If you’re suffering from pain arising from this condition it basically means that the

 tendons and bursa (fluid filled sack that protects the tendons from the bone, but more about that later) are irritated – normally because the mechanics of the shoulder and shoulder blade are not optimal – creating a narrowing of the space that they live in. Bursitis is when the bursa (that same fluid filled sack) becomes irritated and in some cases swollen.

Now, although this is a common problem, the underlying causes are very individual and a thorough assessment –by that we mean looking for everything that could be contributing to it in your case – is very important. We normally start by doing what we have to do to optimise how your shoulder blade sits and moves. There is lots of trigger pointing and mobilisations at this point. Once we have all that in order we need to strengthen everything up, especially the rotator cuff and shoulder blade muscles.